By Robert Simonson
15 Oct 2009

Bruce Wasserstein, a prominent Wall Street investment banker and the brother of playwright Wendy Wasserstein, died suddenly Oct. 14 in Manhattan. He was 61.

Mr. Wasserstein was the chairman and chief executive of the old New York investment firm Lazard. He was a powerful and central figure in the financial community in the 1980s and '90s, when hostile takeovers made regular headlines. Mr. Wasserstein was frequently one of the architects of many of these mergers and acquisitions, most infamously Kohlberg Kravis Roberts' takeover of RJR Nabisco, was was chronicled in the book and movie "Barbarians at the Gate." He was also behind Carl C. Icahn's failed attempt to raid AOL Time Warner.

Followers of theatre became aware of Mr. Wasserstein in 2006, when his Pulitzer Prize-winning sister Wendy died of lymphoma at the age of 55. He adopted Ms. Wasserstein's young daughter, Lucy Jane, who was only seven at the time. The playwright never revealed the identity of the child's father.

Bruce Jay Wasserstein was born on Christmas Day, Dec. 25, 1947, in Brooklyn to Morris W. Wasserstein, a fabric executive, and Lola Schleifer. He graduated from the University of Michigan at the age of 19, moving on to Harvard Law School and the Harvard Business School.

In January 2009 he married his fourth wife, Angela Chao. She survives him.